TS 1109 
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CORNFIBRE, 

AND ITS USES. 



A HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 



Chevalier Aver Voisr Welsbach, 

R. AUI.IC CdUNCILLOR, MEMBER OF THE IMPERIEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, DIRECTOR 
OK THK IMPERIAL PRISTING AND PAPER-MAKING ESTABLISHMENTS, 
VIENNA. AUSTRIA. 



PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES. APRIL 2ls». 1863. 



WM. AIjFER3IAX>, 5)0 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK, 

Agent ol tlie IPatenlee. 



ricto-|orh : 

JOHN A. GRAY k GREEN, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, 

Corner of Frankfort and Jacob Streets. 

1 8 y, o . 





CORNFIBRE, 

AND ITS USES. 
A HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERIES AND INTENTIONS 

OF 

Chevalier Auer Von Welsbacii, 

I. B. AULIC COUNCILLOR, MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, DIRECTUK 
OF THE IMPERIAL PRINTING AND PAPER-MAKING ESTABLISHMENTS, 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA. 

PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 21sl, 1863. 



WM. AUFERMANN, 90 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK, 

^gent of the I*atentee. 




/I' 

JOHN A. GRAY &. GREEN, PRINTERS, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET. 
1865. 



^X'i 



^\^%- 



<<- <:^'M^^ 



CORNFIBRE AND ITS USES. 



SCAECITY OP BAGS. 

The recent discussion in the public j^ress of tlie y>yo- 
posed reduction of the paper duty has rendered the fact 
familiar to all newspaper readers, that, for years past, 
the supply of rags — the raw material from which paper 
is made — has not been equal to the demand. The sphere 
of the rag-gatherer has gradually extended from the 
countries of Southern Europe to the Avhole of the East, 
including the East-Indies, China, and Japan, as well as 
to every i>art of the American Continent ; but even the 
enlarged field has not yielded a sufficient supply for the 
growing wants of the manufacturers. In fact, it is im- 
possible that the increase in the supply of rags should 
keep pace with the enormous increase in the demand for 
paper. Not only does the feverish activity of our litera- 
ture, in its varied shapes of daily, weekly, monthly jour- 
nal, of i^amphlet, review, or library volume, call for a 
supply of pri?itin</-i:)a^er increasing in an almost geome- 
trical ratio ; not only do public schools, with their gen- 
ei-al spread of knowledge among all classes, and our new 
and more rapid means of communication, with daily 
mails and cheap postage, foster a facile use of loriting- 



paper, bordering upon waste; not only does the steady 
advance of all nations in Avealth, with its attendant de- 
sire for comfort and cleanliness, cause dull white-washed 
walls to be superseded by ornamental patterns, neatly 
printed on the ever-ready wall-^a^er, and millions of 
large and small articles of trade to be carefully packed 
in jKtper boxes and 2)ttpe7' ^m^appers, but, in addition to 
these all but exhaustive and constantly widening sources 
of consumption, man's restless ingenuity has recently 
devised, and is each day discovering, new modes of ren- 
dering paper serviceable to his wants and comforts. 

Of the thousand and one uses to which paper is now- 
adays put, undreamt of by our forefathers, and not too 
well known by those of our generation, it suffices to 
mention a few of the most heterogeneous. Paper is now 
extensively manufactured into lining for ladies' bonnets, 
and soles of boots and shoes ; into shirt-collars, cuffs, 
and bosoms, and roofing for houses, ships, and railroad 
cars ; into gentlemen's hat-bodies, and trails for ladies' 
dresses ; into oil-cloth and trunks ; into leather for cover- 
ing cheap sofas and children's carriages ; into wood- 
en furniture, Avindow-shades, awnings, and twine ; into 
moulds for sugar-loaves, and armor for ships of Avar. It 
is impossible to say Avhat it Avill not be manufactured into. 

Against the increased demand for these varied pur- 
poses Ave have no set-off in an increased supply. Rags 
cannot be raised or manufactured ad UMtuni, like any 
other raAV material. The extreme limits to which the 
gathering of them can be profitably pushed by perse- 
verance and enterprise, are btxt narroAV and quickly 
reached. Rag-gathering is a pursuit not often followed 
from choice, and readily abandoned upon very slight 
temptation. Hence the supply of rags invariably de- 



clines as soon as labor finds ready employment, that is, 
at the very time when the demand increases. As the 
snpply of this valuable I'aw material cannot be increased 
at will, a variety of plans have been tried to economize 
it ; all of which can be summed up as attempts more or 
less successful to convert the paper that has once served 
its purpose, by being written or printed on, again into 
pulp, and this again into a fresh sheet of paper of infe- 
rior quality. Thus the white and snowy page from ori- 
ginal New-England rags, upon which the college youth 
has so carefully penned his exercise, wanders through a 
variety of unsavory channels back to the mill from which 
it came, and issues forth again in due time as a brittle, 
feeble, dust-colored sheet, on which the lucubrations of 
some newspaper editor will puzzle the weary eye of the 
inquiring reader. The unsold or Avell-preserved news- 
paper sheet, in its turn, serves the bill-poster in place of 
white paper, especially for heavily lettered bills posted 
on the lower copings of walls and against the sidewalks, 
where the small type of the cutting editorial disappears 
from view and offends no more. From here the profes- 
sional rag-picker will, in due time, peel it off, after the 
paste has been moistened by heavy showers, and send it 
once more on its endless journey to the mill, whence it re- 
turns this time perhaps in the shape of a heavy card, cov- 
ered thick with a brilliant gloss of white arsenic enamel, 
on which, at the right season, invitations will be printed, 
calling the world of fashion to their neighbors' homes. 
Or again, the paper of our worn-ovTt hats, and shoe-soles, 
and floor-cloths is made iip into fancy papier-mache 
boxes, inlaid with pearl and gaudy with paint and gold, 
to hold taint perfumes and pink-colored notes ; while the 
careful housewife scrupulously saves every scraj) of waste 



6 

paper, and our very soiled lineu wanders, not to the 
washerwoman, but the paper-basket. 

But all these petty economies cannot, of course, make 
up for a radical deficiency in the supply, and hence in- 
telligent manufacturers, all the world over, have, for 
years past, been searching for substitutes to take the 
place of rags, and a variety of articles — ^liemp, manilla, 
straw, cotton-waste, and bagging, and even wood and 
cane — have been tried with more or less success, and 
some of them are now extensively used. But all of these 
are either in themselves expensive and difficult to work, 
or are suited only for certain kinds of paper, generally 
the lowest grades, or else require a large proportion of 
rags to render them of use. 

The main qualities required to make an article avail- 
able as a substitute for rags, are : a regular and abund- 
ant supply at a low price, a fibre that can be reduced 
to great fineness without destroying its strength, a na- 
tural whiteness like that of cotton, or else the faculty of 
bleaching readily like flax. In order to be abundant, it 
must, of course, be the product of a plant raised by cul- 
tivation ; for the supply of articles growing wild is, at 
all times, irregular and unreliable. In order to be cheap, 
some part of the plant must be sufficiently valuable for 
purposes other than paper-making to j^ay for the cultiva- 
tion of the whole, and the remainder must not be ur- 
gently required for any other manufiicture, nor be other- 
wise in demand. All of these qualities are possessed, in 
a remarkable degree, by parts of the Indian corn plant, 
which is raised for its grain or seecl — the corn, while its 
husks, stalks, and leaves are not of any actual merchant- 
able value. 



INDIAN CORN. 
The three main kinds of farinaceous food, which to- 
gether furnish the largest proportion of sustenance to 
man, are : wheat, rice, and corn. The first is essentially 
the food of the Anglo-Saxon, the second of the Hindoo- 
Malay, the last of the Latin, Spanish-American, and ne- 
gro races. The wealthier portions of the north of Eu- 
rope, of South- America below the southern frontier of 
Peru, (where the climate no longer favors corn-raising,) 
and the greater part of Australia, live on wheat. Al- 
most all Asia and the Islands of the Pacific subsist on 
rice. In Europe — Portugal, Spain, the north of Italy, 
the shores of the Mediterranean, and the eastern pro- 
vinces of Austria ; in Africa — the countries lining the 
Mediterranean, and the west coast from Sierra Leone to 
Congo, as well as large interior districts ; in Australia — 
the northern and south-eastern colonies; in Asia — the 
north-western portion of the Chinese empire, the north- 
ern shores of Bengal Bay, and the Philippine Islands, 
(settled by people of Latin race,) all cultivate corn in 
immense quantities, and use it as their chief food. But 
the true home of this valuable and Avide-spread cereal 
(called by the botanists, Zea Mays) is the American 
continent. Here it is indigenous. From here, in the 
beginning of the sixteenth century, it was first carried 
to Europe, and thence gradually spread over the other 
quarters of the globe. Here it attains its greatest luxu- 
riance and productiveness. In parts of Central America, 
the plant attains a height of twenty feet, and yields three 
and four crops a year, each crop producing five and six 
hundred-fold, in favored districts even eight hundred- 
fold, and some single plants the almost incredible return 
of fifteen hundred-fold. Between forty-nine degrees of 



northern and forty degrees of southern latitude there 
is scarcely any climate in which it does not flourish, 
from the Canada frontier to the tropical Amazon, from 
the low lands of the Mississippi to the mountain plains 
of Mexico, and the volcanic valleys of Peru, eight thou- 
sand five hundred, and twelve thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. The production of corn amounted in 
the United States alone, in 1862, to nearly six hundred 
millions of bushels,* from an area of over forty thousand 
square miles, which are under cultivation with it ; while 
it is estimated, that in all countries combined there is a 
larger area planted with corn than with any one other 
cereal. The latter statement may appear exaggerated, 
in view of the overwhelming popi;lations of Asia sub- 
sisting mainly on rice ; but it must be remembered, that 
rice in those countries is too precious for any other use 



* According to the report of the Bureau of Statistics, Department 
of Agriculture, in the " Monthly Report of the Condition of the Crops, 
for September, 1862," the exact amount raised in the loyal States was 
as follows : 



Maine, 


1,855,285 


Ohio, 


71,792,253 


New-Hampshire, 


1,668,285 


Michigan, 


15,190,137 


Vermont, 


1,585,020 


Indiana, 


92,855,454 


Massachusetts, 


2,465,215 


Illinois, 


138,356,135 


Rhode Island, 


458,912 


Missouri, 


54,679,118 


Connecticut, 


2,059,835 


Wisconsin, 


10,087,053 


New-York, 


24,073,257 


Iowa, 


49,340,393 


New-Jersey, 


10,023,336 


Minnesota, 


3,983,426 


Pennsylvania, 


30,721,821 


Kansas, 


6,814,601 


Maryland, 


14,444,922 


Nebraska Territory, 


, 1,846,785 


Delaware, 


3,892,337 


California, 


478,169 


Kentucky, 


48,032,725 







Total Bushels, 586,704,474 

This enormous total is exclusive of the States then in rebellion, all of 
which produce corn in large quantities. 



9 

but human food, whereas, iu America, corn is produced 
so cheaply and abundantly that it is used for a variety 
of manufacturing purposes, and is also the main food for 
cattle and animals of all kinds ; while, in some places, it 
is commonly said to pay for raising only when it can be 
walked to market, in the shape of fat pigs and cattle, 
and in some years has been burnt by the farmers in place 
of coal. The husks, stalks, and leaves of this enormous 
production of corn have never, heretofore, been turned 
to practical advantage. Here and there small quantities 
have been used in a wasteful, careless way for fodder 
and for bedding cattle in winter, or burnt as light fuel, 
or left to rot on the fields as manure, but by far the 
greater portion of the supply has been allowed to waste, 
and no means have been discovered of rendering them 
valuable as an article of commerce. It is the object of 
these pages to point out how a largo part of what has 
until now been deemed useless can be made very pro- 
ductive, and, at the same time, an ample supply of raw 
material obtained for an important branch of industry 
urgently in want of it. 

HISTOKY OF THE DISCOVERY. 

It may seem to require explanation, why the call for a 
discovery seemingly so much needed, and yet so simple, 
should have remained so long unanswered. The reason 
is to be found in the great distance, both in space, pur- 
siuts, and knowledge of one another that separates the 
corn-grower and the paper manufacturer. Corn grow 
ing flourishes in Southern climates mostly, paper making 
in Northern climates only. The corn-grower generally 
obtains a sufticient remuneration for his labor by selling 
his corn, and is not much troubled with his husks ; while 



10 

the paper mamifactiircv, if he ever thinks of corn-husks 
as a substitute for his declining supply of rags, promptly 
reasons, that 4he expense of transporting them to his 
mill would make them cost nearly as much as the rags 
themselves. Besides, in the Northern parts of the Unit- 
ed States, where the paper manufacturer does occasion- 
ally come in local contact with the corn-grower, the in- 
tense activity of industrial and commercial life, and 
consequent ample return readily obtained for capital in 
safe and well-known enterprises, have prevented all such 
discoveries as required for their prosecution an invest- 
ment of capital extending over years and of uncertain 
result. In Austria, the only other country, besides the 
States, in which corn is raised at any practicable dis- 
tance from paper-mills, the above circumstances unfavor- 
able to discovery do not exist. On the contrary, a lib- 
eral and enlightened government, managing national 
paper-mills, and deeply anxious to raise the prosperity 
of its agricultural districts, was not only peculiarly able, 
but willing to encourage and support the necessary ex- 
periments ; and it is to this enterprising spirit of the 
Austrian Government, that the great corn-growing coun- 
tries of North and South-America will owe the means 
of hereafter deriving large annual additions to their 
wealth by giving a commercial value to millions of 
pounds of produce heretofore wasted. 

It was probably the knowledge, that in China large 
quantities of paper were made from rice-straw, and that 
the same material had also been successfully employed 
in Europe, that first led to experimenting with corn- 
straw. As early as the beginning of last century, two 
factories for working cornfibre into paper are known to 
have been in existence in Italy. That country then oc- 



11 



cupied a leading position among paper-producers, liaving 
been among the first to introduce the manufacture into 
Europe, as it was among the first to adopt the cultiva- 
tion of corn. At what time these factories were discon- 
tinued, or what led to their suspension, is not known to 
us, and of the processes they employed we likewise re- 
main in perfect ignorance. In a work published in 
Ratisbon in 17V2, and again in another issued in Cologne 
in 1838, samples of cornfibre paper are inserted, but 
without further information. William Cobbett, the 
English reformer, in his work on the corn plant, states, 
that he had had some paper made from corn-stalks, 
which was of very fair quality, and upon which the 
first sheet of his work Avas printed. These and various 
other experiments and partial successes tended to main- 
tain the belief, that the cornfibre was destined ulti- 
mately to become a valuable substitute for rags in the 
manufacture of paper. When, therefore, ten or eleven 
years ago, a Bohemian gentleman of the name of Moritz 
Diamant began to agitate the question anew, the Austri- 
an Government was already disposed to give him a fa- 
vorable hearing ; and when, in 1856, he claimed to have 
discovered a simple j^rocess for reducing cornfibre to 
paj^er-pulp, (the condition precedent to its actual manu- 
facture into paper,) the Minister of Finance, Baron 
Bruck, to whom he had siibmitted his proposition, de- 
termined to give his process a trial. The Imperial 
paper-mills at Schlogelmilhle, near Vienna, were se- 
lected for the purpose, the necessary machinery was 
erected, every facility provided, the management was 
placed in Diamant's own hands, and under his direc- 
tions large quantities of corn-straw were worked up into 
paper. But the result was totally unfavorable ; the 



12 



quality of the paper produced was unsatisfactory, and 
the cost much higlier than that of a similar quality of 
paper made from rags. After a variety of fresh experi- 
ments and the expenditure of further considerable sums 
of money, the whole project, as far as the Government 
was concerned, was abandoned. 

Mr. Diaraant now sought to obtain the assistance of 
private capitalists, but without success, and in 1859 
again made application to the Government for a renewal 
of the experiments by improved methods. This appli- 
cation Avas so strongly indorsed by intelligent manufac- 
turers, and the Government itself was so much impressed 
with the importance of the subject, and with the proba- 
bility that private enterprise might not be equal to the 
undertaking, that it consented to have the experiments 
renewed at its expense. They were begun immediately, 
at the same mill as before, and were carried on with 
great activity. In a short time, both writing and print- 
ing papers were produced by the improved processes, 
greatly superior to those made in the former trials, but 
still far from satisfactory. Unfortunately, also, even 
this imperfect quality was still much higher in cost than 
rag-paper, and as it was, therefore, deemed inexpedient 
to manufacture any large quantity of it, the undertaking 
was a second time on the point of being abandoned. 
The improvement in the quality of the new paper Avas, 
however, so marked as to warrant the Government in 
consenting to a further series of ex2')eriments, more par- 
ticularly with a view to reducing the price, and in the 
confident belief, that if the paper could only be made at 
a reasonable cost, increasing experience would rapidly 
improve the quality. The actual cost of manufacturing 
was not in itself considered excessive ; the difficulty lay 



J 



13 



rather hi the heavy raUroacl freights on the immense 
quantities of straw which had to be brought to the fac- 
tory, and which were worked up into a very small quan- 
tity of paper, the percentage of waste being very heavy. 
It was, therefore, proposed to build a new factory in the 
very midst of the corn-growing districts, so as to save 
the whole of the railroad freight. But as this would 
have involved the abandonment of all the elaborate ar- 
rangements at the Schlogelmtihle Mills, and a further 
heavy expenditure for erecting an entirely new estab- 
lishment elsewhere, the Government did not sanction 
the proposal. The suggestion then was to organize a 
rude and simple establishment in the corn districts, 
where the bulky straw should be reduced to pulp, all 
useless parts and waste carefully separated, and only 
the material actually suitable for paper-making sent to 
the mill, thus saving, of course, the heaviest part of the 
freight. This suggestion was adopted, and in the spring 
of 1860 the new supplementary establishment was open- 
ed, again under the charge of Mr. Diamant himself A 
year's time was allowed him to produce the promised 
results. But difficulties that seemed inherent in the en- 
terprise itself again led to a complete failure. The sepa- 
ration of the raw material in the manner proposed was 
found impracticable, the quantities that could be pro- 
duced were insignificant in comparison with the outlay, 
the quality inferior, and before the trial year was over, 
Mr. Diamant, completely discouraged, threw up his ap- 
pointment and entirely abandoned the enterprise. 

But the Government had, by this time, gone too far, 
and incurred too large an expenditure, to give up so 
important an undertaking, unless utterly convinced of 
its impracticability. The entire question Avas, therefore, 



14 



placed for solution in the hands of one of the highest 
civil officers of the crown, the director of all the Impe- 
rial printing and paper-making establishments, Chevalier 
Auer von Welsbach. This gentleman of practical busi- 
ness habits and high scientific culture set about his task 
with that thorough systematic research peculiarly char- 
acteristic of German men of science. He began by 
abandoning the indiscriminate use of all the different 
parts of the corn-plant, and, carefully sej^arating the 
cobs, leaves, husks, and stalks, submitted them sepa- 
rately to the same series of experiments, the result of 
which speedily proved the correctness of his judgment. 
For it was very soon found that the fibre, or material 
suitable for paper-making, was contained in but small 
proportions in the cobs, leaves, and stalks, whereas it 
was abundant and of the very finest quality in the 
husks, or leaves surrounding the ear. This was at once 
a result of the first importance, and henceforth the ex- 
periments w^ere carried on with steady step until they 
culminated in a most brilliant success. 

Attention was now directed almost exclusively to the 
husks, and all attempts to develop the possible value of 
other parts of the corn-plant were for the time aban- 
doned. Before long the mill was in a position to make, 
from the husks alone, papers of excellent quality, strong, 
white, and susceptible of the highest finish. But their 
cost, although far below that of the papers first made, 
was still too high to admit of the hope that they could 
ever successfully compete with rag-paper. The question 
then presented itself with great force to Chevalier Auer 
von Welsbach : What causes the great cheapness of rag- 
paper ? 

The foundation and main substance of all paper is 



15 



vegetable fibre. The three kinds of vegetable fibre best 
known and most commonly in nse all the world over, 
are flax, hemp, and cotton. If these fibres were worked 
up into paper in their perfect state as first obtained from 
the plant, they would produce a very much stronger and 
better paper than is now made, but it would he many 
times more costly. It is now made cheap, because the 
fibre of the flax, hemp, or cotton is first used for some 
other more valuable 2)ur2yose which amj^ly repays the 
cost of its production, and is turned over to the paper- 
mill only when no longer serviceable for that other pur- 
pose^ when really completely valueless. Furthermore, 
the wear which the material woven from this fibre un- 
dergoes in the process of becoming " a rag," its repeated 
washing with soap and other alkaline substances while 
in use, tend to loosen, break, and disintegrate the fibre, 
to reduce it partially to that soft, pulpy state to which 
it must be entirely reduced in the mill before it can be 
made into pajDcr, thus actually preparinrj itself for the 
paper-mill, and saving a large amount of expensive la- 
bor. These are the causes of the cheapness of rag- 
paper. 

The question then naturally arose : Can the fibre con- 
tained in the husks of Indian corn be obtained in such a 
shape that it may be spun and woven like flax, hemp, or 
cotton, and made up into some material of value, which, 
while being used for other purposes, will be reduced by 
wear to a state similar to that of the rag, and then grad- 
ually revert to the paper-mill, as a substitute for, or a 
supplement to, the insufiicieut, scarce, and high-priced 
linen and cotton rags ? Persevering experiments an- 
swered this question Avith an emphatic " Yes !" 



16 



THE NEW MATERIAL FOR SPINNING. 

The direct result of these experiments demonstrated 
the important fact that the husks of the corn contain a 
long, straight, strong, flax-like fibre, which can he spun, 
like flax, into a thread, and the thread, like linen thread, 
woven into cloth. It only remained to put this result of 
scientific experiment into a practical shape, and this also 
was speedily accomplished. A simple and inexijensive 
process for obtaining the fibre, requiring but slight ap- 
paratus and few other aids, was invented, and, by large 
practical tests, it was soon proved that the fibre could be 
readily extracted in large quantities, and that good, sound 
husks would yield fully ten per cent of their weight in 
fibre fit for spinning. The labors of the inventor were 
thus crowned by a discovery of extraordinary value. 
Here was a new fibre, a new raw material, the import- 
ance of which it was impossible to calculate, which could 
be produced, at a trifling expense, from a plant whose 
extension over the globe exceeds that of cotton tenfold, 
and of which the very refuse alone is required for the 
purpose. Millions of tons of corn-husks that heretofore 
had annually rotted upon the ground were suddenly ren- 
dered valuable. A substitute for a variety of raw mate- 
rials hitherto gathered together from the ends of the 
world, was unexpectedly found lying at our own doors 
in untold quantities. 

It seems appropriate in this place to quote the words 
of the inventor. He says : "From the moment when the 
thought struck me, to first produce the fibre independ- 
ently, before working it into paper, I knew no peace or 
rest. The difiiculties to be overcome, before the very 
first imperfect results could be reached, were measure- 
ess, and can only be appreciated by those who, like my- 



J 



17 

self, have sought discoveries in entirely new directions 
and with unknown materials. Scarcely a day passed 
without some new quality, some new peculiarity of the 
material being made apparent ; not a day but what 
brought new hopes, and scarcely one but brought new 
disappointments. The history of every discovery is a 
history of the sufferings of the discoverer, and it is given 
to but few to imagine even of Avhat sorrows, struggles, 
anxieties, and despondencies great inventions are brought 
forth. The hope of benefiting the industrial and agricul- 
tural interests of my native country, alone sustained my 
courage, and I can now look back with satisfaction to 
those years of labor, for I feel that they have not been 
in vain." 

The process of preparing the fibre was at once patented 
in all European countries, and in 1863 a similar patent 
was granted by the United States, to whose citizens the 
discovery is likely to be of the very highest commercial 
and agricultural importance. 

To any one at all familiar with the delicate and com- 
plicated machinery in use for spinning and weaving well- 
known fibres, or to any one who remembers from the 
beginning of the Southern rebellion, how a great portion 
of the cotton machinery of England had to be altered in 
important particulars to adapt it to the cotton of India, 
in place of that from our southern States, (although the 
difference between the two is scarcely to be recognized 
by the casual observer,) to such a one it is unnecessary 
to explain why the new material has not been as yet ex- 
tensively manufactured. Enough, however, has been 
done by enterprising German manufacturers to show 
that the cornfibre in strength, softness, elasticity, and 
endurance of exposure, excels by far all the coarser 
2 



18 

fibrous materials now in use. In its present imperfect 
state it takes rank near hemp, and will furnish an excel- 
lent substitute for the coarser kinds of flax and hemp 
cloths, and will, no doubt, at once supersede all jute, coir, 
(or cocoa,) and gunny cloth and bagging. To give an 
idea of the impoi'tance of a raw material, suitable even 
for such ordinary purposes, it may be well to mention 
that the material used for baling our entire Southern 
cotton crop is imported from the East-Indies, at an an- 
nual expense of nearly two millions of dollars gold ; that 
from the island of Ceylon alone we import annually half 
a million in value of coir and coir-matting ; while in Scot- 
land no less than seventy mills and two thousand hands 
find profitable employment in manufacturing jute goods, 
to the value of two millions of pounds sterling per an- 
num. The inventor does not anticipate that cornfibre 
will ever take the place of flax or cotton, but he does be- 
lieve that, in the hands of ingenious American manufac- 
turers, it will shortly be carried to a development second 
only to the two materials named, and will even profitably 
take the place of flax in its coarser fabrics.* 

* In answer to the very natural question concerning price, it is at 
present only possible to state : in the estimates of costs and profits of 
an establishment for producing cornfibre on a large scale, (furnished by 
Chevalier Auer von Welsbach, the inventor, and appended hereto,) the 
value of the Austrian Centner (one hundred and twenty-three and a half 
pounds avoirdupois) of the fibre has been taken at sixteen florins, or 
eight dollars gold, making six and a half cents gold, per pound, and 
showing at this valuation a lai'ge profit to the manufacturer. The cost 
of the corn-husks has been taken in this calculation at two florins per 
centner, or about sixteen dollars gold, per ton. These figures are 
quoted merely to give some idea of the estimated cost of the fibre, and 
to show upon what that estimate is based. But they are not intended 
as conclusive. It is diflScult to name a price at which farmers would 



19 

In addition to its value for spinning, the fibre can be 
advantageously used as a substitute for borse-bair, in 
stuffing furniture, carriages, and mattresses. It has also 
been used with great success in place of cotton for mak- 
ing " gun-cotton," and there can be no reasonable doubt 
that, when once manufactured in quantities, a great many 
additional uses will be found for it, as its qualities be- 
come better known. The time elapsed since the discov- 
ery was made has been too short to admit even of much 
experiment, and the nine years employed in obtaining 
even this result have taught the necessity of patience. 
Besides it was not the object of the inventor's researches 
to discover new fibres for spinning and weaving, but to 
make cheap white letter and printing paper from corn- 
stalks, and the development of the cornfibre was only an 
incidental result of his endeavors. It could not be his 

consider themselves sufficiently remunerated for stacking their husks 
carefully and bringing them to market. But offers have been made to 
furnish large quantities at sixteen dollars gold, per ton, and there is no 
doubt that when the value of the husks becomes generally known, they 
will be saved throughout the country, and will soon become very cheap. 
Hay, which requires the exclusive use of the land for its culture, and 
the raising of which is attended with considerable labor and risk, is sold 
in ordinary times, after paying heavy freights, at twelve to fifteen dol- 
lars per ton. Surely the corn-husks, heretofore allowed to rot, ought 
not to cost one half as much. 

It is equally difficult to say what would be the merchantable value of 
the fibre when brought to market, but we may form some estimate when 
we know that manilla hemp, with which the cornfibre will probably 
come into direct competition, is sold in this market at twelve and a half 
cents per pound, and that the price of coir is eight cents, of jute ten 
cents, and of the fibre of gunny-cloth about eight or nine cents per 
pound, all in currency, while the value of the cornfibre is taken in 
ChevaUer Von Auer's estimates at only six and a half cents gold, per 
pound. 



20 

wish, therefore, to immediately pursue his exijeriments 
for turning the new fibre to account as a spinning mate- 
rial ; on the contrary, he determined to first accomplish 
his original object. 

THE NEW ARTICLE OF FOOD. 

In the course of extracting the cornfibre, the husks 
are submitted to a process of boiling with an alkaline 
mixture, as a result of which the long fibres are found at 
the bottom of the boiler in a spongy condition, filled with 
a glutinous substance, Avhich, on closer examination, 
proves to be a perfect dough of corn-meal, and is found 
to contain in a concentrated form all the nourishment, 
whether for man or beast, originally contained in the 
husk. This dough can be dried and baked, and furnishes 
a good, wholesome, sweet bread, especially when mixed 
with wheat flour. It possesses the peculiarity, that it 
keeps perfectly sweet for months, although exposed to 
the air ; it will not mould, and excels almost all known 
vegetable substances in its resistance to decomposition. 
Mixed with wheat flour, it would probably make the 
very best material known for shipbread and crackers. 
Cattle eat it voraciously. Perfectly dry, it makes most 
beautiful fuel, and in any condition it is invaluable as 
manure. Of this interesting and useful material, the corn- 
husks used in the Schlogelmiilile mills were found to con- 
tain about eleven per cent ; it is, however, probable that 
the richer corn of this continent, especially that from 
more southern latitudes, will be found to contain a larger 
percentage, and be correspondingly more profitable. In 
the government bakeries attached to the Schlogelmtihle 
Mills, this dough is mixed with wheat flour, in the pro- 



21 

portion of one to three, and one to five, producing a 
bread entirely acceptable to the workmen.* 

THE NEW PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. 

Although the entire series of experiments which has 
been related was originally begun for the jjurpose of 
procuring a cheap material for paper-making, it was not 
until two other important discoveries had been made, 
and only as a direct result from them, that the real ob- 
ject of the inventor was iinally accomplished. It has 
been seen how the fibre, after boiling, comes from the 
husk filled with the glutinous dough. This dough is 
squeezed out from between the fibres by powerful hy- 
draulic presses. The fibre then remains in the shape of 
a bunch of longitudinal threads, connected together by, 
and interspersed with, a dense mass of short, soft, fluffy 
film, which, in preparing the fibre for spinning, becomes 
detached, and is carefully gathered up. In the water in 
which the husk has been boiled large quantities of this 
same short fibre are found floating, and are easily obtained 
by straining. This short film, or fibre, closely resembles 
the pulp made in a paper-mill from linen and cotton rags, 
and is, in fact, the long-sought tieio material for lyaper- 
making, the much-desired substitute for linen and cotton 
rags. In thus developing this new material, the result 
originally aimed at by the inventor has been reached in 
a perfection almost marvellous. We have seen that the 
reason why rag-paper is cheap is, that the fibre of flax, 

* Curiously enough it is found that a slight admixture of this dough 
has the efifect of totally destroying the bitter taste sometimes noticed in 
wheat flour, and commonly attributed to the presence of the parasitic 
growth called "fly." 



22 



hemp, or cotton, is first used for some other more valu- 
able purpose, and turned over to the paper-mill only 
when no longer serviceable for that other purpose. By 
this new discovery we have not only the corn-fibre ready 
for use for some other more valuable purpose, to be in 
due time returned to the paper-mill, after accomplishing 
its first mission, but we have, in addition, almost loith- 
out cost, as mere waste, as the incidental result of pro- 
ducing the material of real value, a large amount of the 
very best hind of paper stock, more nearly ready for the 
paper-vat, than even the well-worn, tattered linen and 
cotton rags. The quantity of this short fibre, obtained 
with a very imperfect and rude jirocess of filtering the 
water in which a large portion of it is found floating, is 
fully, nineteen per cent in weight of the husks used, and 
the amount of paper which can be made of it is about 
equal to that made from the same quantity of linen rags. 
But the quality is, in some respects, fiir superior. 

The papers made from cornfibre are stronger than 
papers of the same weight made from linen and cotton 
rags. It has a hardness and firmness of grain exceeding 
that of the best hand-made English drawing-papers, and 
rendering it specially adapted for i>encil-drawing, water- 
colors, and stenographic writing, for which latter pur- 
pose it is already extensively used. Its durability is 
greater than that of paper made from any other mate- 
rial whatsoever, and it is not exposed, like parchment, 
to be destroyed by insects. This renders it peculiarly 
valuable for documents, records, bank-notes, bonds, etc., 
and the paper made for these purposes at the Schlogel- 
miihle mills is readily sold at much higher prices than 
can be obtained for similar kinds made from other ma- 
terial. As tracing-paper it is unsurpassed. By a simple 



23 



change in the process of manufacture it can be made 
extremely transparent without sacrificing any portion of 
its strength. Experiments recently made show that it is 
also specially adapted for photogi'aphic purposes. In 
addition to these exceptional and distinctive kinds of 
paper, all those ordinarily made from linen and cotton 
rags can be just as well made from coi-nfibre. It is 
easily worked, either alone or mixed with rags, into the 
finest writing and printing papers ; readily takes any tint 
or color, and can be worked almost to as much advan- 
tage into stout wrapping-papers of superior quality as 
into fine note and envelope papers ; and the machinery 
required for manufacturing it is not essentially different 
from that ordinarily in use in paper-mills working on 
rags. 

ESTIMATED COST AND PRODUCT OP A CORNFIBRE 
MANUFACTOKY. 

The following estimates are furnished by Chevalier 
Auer von Welsbach. They can be relied on as scrupu- 
lously correct and truthful.* The figures for a similar 
establishment in this country would, of course, be quite 
diflTerent, but the general result, it is believed, would be 

* In this connection we are permitted to quote the following extracts 
from a letter addressed by Baron Rothschild to his New-York corre- 
spondents, A. Belmont & Co., under date of Vienna, Oct. 14th, 1864 : 

" I beg to recommend this matter to your kind protection and your 
warmest support." 

" Chevalier von Auer is a distinguished public officer, who has made 
our Imperial printing establishment what it now is, one of the most 
magnificent institutions on the Continent. I should feel particularly 
pleased if this excellent gentleman were to succeed in his object 
through your kind aid. 

(Signed) " S. M. von Rothschild." 



24 



the same. The necessary land could probably be pur- 
chased in a suitable locality for much less than the Che- 
valier's estimate, while the building and machinery would 
certainly not cost more. The raw material, the husks, 
making 15 per cent of the amount called by him " an- 
nual expenses," is expected to cost very much less than 
one half of the price calculated by him, (see note at 
page 18,) and the heavy item for coal, etc., would proba- 
bly also be less, while all other expenses would, no doubt, 
be treble and quadruple. The value of the fibre for spin- 
ning must remain an entirely o^jen question. It is also 
uncertain whether, in this country of cheap food, preju- 
dice would permit the most profitable use to be made of 
the glutinous dough ; but it will be noted, that the latter 
is calculated only at the value which it would have for 
paper-making. Its value as food for animals may be 
judged from the price of oil-cake, which sells at $50 per 
ton, or 2^ cents per poimd, and which is not believed to 
contain one half the nourishment of the corn dough. 
The paper stock, at the present j^rice for rags, would be 
worth more than twice his estimate of about 4 cents 
gold, which is lower than the price of good white rags 
has ever been within the writer's experience. 

In the body of the estimates, the American equivalent 
in gold has been placed in brackets by the side of the 
foreign currency, taking the Austrian florin at 50 cents 
gold, although it is actually worth but 45 or 46. In the 
tables, the amounts are given in the foreign cui'rency 
and in American gold, in separate columns. The Aus- 
trian centner is equal to 123|^ American pounds. "With 
these prefatory remarks, we copy the Chevalier's esti- 
mates. 



25 



COST OF PLANT AND MACHINERY. 

In speaking of a Cornfibre Manufactory, we mean an 
establishment for extracting and prcjiaring for market 
the three different materials of value contained in the 
husks and leaves of the corn-plant, namely, cornfibre 
for spinning, corn-gluten for human or animal food, and 
corn-pulp for making into paper. Such a manufactory, 
calculated to work up 100,000 centner (6175 American 
tons) of husks jier annum, would require three or four 
acres of ground, and a building of three stories with 
high attic* The building used for the purpose in the 
Schogelmiihle Mills cost 30,000 florins, ($15,000 gold.) 
This sum has, therefore, been taken in the estimate. On 
the ground floor are the steam-boilers and the Avorking 
boilers ; the second floor is arranged for sorting and 
washing ; the third floor for the stock of husks ; and 
the fourth for storage of the finished goods. 

The ftictory requires an unfailing stream of water, or 
else an inexhaustible well. 

The entire plant, machinery, boilers, and all other re- 
quisites are estimated at the sum actually paid for those 
in use in Schlogelmiihle, making the total cost of the es- 
tablishment, including land and building, amount to 
107,400 florins, ($53,700 gold.) A factory calculated to 
produce twice the amount of goods would, of course, 
cost much less than twice that sum. 

ANNUAL EXPENSES. 

Raw Material. — The husks have been taken at the 
price at which they were purchased for the Imperial 

' * The Chevalier does not give the size of the building. It is be- 
lieved, however, that 25 by 100 would be ample. 



26 

Mills, adding a reasonable amount for freiglit, on the 
supiDOsition that the manufactory would be situated near 
the corn-growing districts. The actual cost to the Aus- 
trian Government was much higher, in consequence of 
the heavy freights they had to i:»ay.* At 2 florins (|1 
gold) the centner, (or $16.20 gold i^er ton,) the outlay 
for 100,000 centner would be 200,000 florins, or |100,000 
gold. 

Fuel, Chemicals, asd other Material. — All pres- 
ent experience shows the expense for these items in 
working up 100 centner, (6^ tons,) to be a little over 39 
florins, (^19.62 gold,) or for 100,000 centner, (6175 tons,) 
39,000 florins, ($19,500 gold.) 

Wages, including every species of labor in the fac- 
tory, amount to 16 florins ($8 gold) for every 100 cent- 
ner of husks worked up, or on 100,000 centner, 16,000 
florins, ($8000 gold.)f 

Interest and Wear and Tear. — As the cost of the 
plant has been estimated at 107,400 florins, (or $53,700 
gold,) the interest at 5 per cent would make 5370 florins, 

* Offers have been received from responsible parties to supply any 
quantity of husks, properly baled, and delivered at a railroad station, 
at $20 currency, say |15 gold. The Chevalier's estimate is $16.20 
gold. But hay, which requires for its culture the exclusive use of the 
land, and the raising of which is attended with considerable labor and 
risk, sells in ordinary times, after paying heavy freights, at $12 to $15 
gold a ton. It is surely not unreasonable to suppose, that when the 
husks, which cost nothing to produce, are everywhere saved, they can 
be bought for less than one half the price of hay. 

f In spite of the very much higher rate paid for labor in this coun- 
try, it is supposed that the above estimate would not be much exceed- 
ed, as a much more practical arrangement of the factory than the one 
indicated by Von Welsbach could easily be devised, and many labor- 
saving machines and contrivances, unknown on the other side, could 
no doubt be profitably employed here. 



27 

(or $2685 gold.) Add to this an annual deduction for 
wear and tear of further 5 per cent, and we have a total 
of 10,740 florins, (or |o370 gold.)* 

PRODUCTION. 

With the machinery now in use in the Imperial paper- 
mill, 100 centner of husks yield 10 centner spinning fibre, 
11 centner corn gluten, and 19 centner pulp ; total, 40 
centner, or 40 per cent of the raw material, showing a 
loss or waste of 60 per cent. This waste consists main- 
ly of gluten and fine pulp, and when proper filtering ap- 
paratus will have been constructed, a large additional 
percentage will be saved. No notice has, however, been 
taken of this increased production in the estimates 
below. 

Spinning Fibre. — As long as the cornfibre, corn- 
thread, and corn-cloth do not form regular articles of 
trade, it is difficult to attach any value to this part of 
the product of the factory ; but considering the value of 
other fibres, and comparing the cornfibre wuth them, it 
is thought that the estimate of 16 florins (|8 gold) for a 
centner is a very moderate one.f 

* The rate of interest is, of course, too low. But wear and tear has 
been allowed on land and buildings, the value of which with us would 
probably increase instead of diminishing, (due allowance having been 
made for repairs ;) so that the total is probably not much out of the 
way. 

f This would make 6 J cents gold, or (with gold at 130) 8^ cents cur- 
rency per pound. The pi-esent market value of other similar fibres is 
as follows: Manilla hemp, 12|- cents currency per pound ; gunny cloth, 
(already woven,) Q a 9i cents currency per pound ; jute, 10 cents cur- 
rency per pound ; coir or cocoa-fibre, 8 cents currency per pound. 
The corn-fibre is certainly more valuable than either of these, except, 
perhaps, manilla hemp, and it is questionable whether it Mill not for 
many purposes excel even the latter. 



28 

Corn-Gluten. — For similar reasons, it is difficult to 
put a price upon this article. In the estimate, it has 
been taken at what it would be worth for making paper, 
to which purpose it is also adapted ; 3^ florins (or |1.75 
gold) per centner (or less than 2 cents currency per 
pound) is believed to be a low estimate.* 11,000 centner 
at this price would make 38,500 florins, (|1 9,250 gold.) 

Paper Pulp. — The value of this article is more readi- 
ly got at than that of the other products of the corn- 
husk. Its quality is fully equal to that of the best linen 
rags, and it will make the same quantity of paper that a 
similar weight of rags will produce. At the lowest 
market j^rice of 9^ florins (or $4.75 gold) per centner, 
(or less than 4 cents gold per pound,) the 19,000 cent- 
ner would be worth 180,500 florins, (or $90,250 gold.)f 

Placing all the above figures in tabular form, we find : 

COST OF PLANT. 

Austrian Currency. American Gold. 

Land, Fl. 16,000 $ 8,000 

Factory building, 3 stories and attic, 30,000 15,000 

Boiler-house, with chimney, . . 6,000 3,000 

2 Boilers, a Fl. 4000, . . . 8,000 4,000 

5 Working Boilers, a Fl. 5000, . 25,000 12,500 

5 Washing and Bleaching Machines, 6,000 3,000 

Steam-Engine, with coupling, etc., . 4,000 2,000 

Steam-pipes, 2,000 1,000 

2 pumps, a Fl. 1200, and 2 hydraulic 

presses, a Fl. 2000, . . 6,400 3,200 

Sundries, 4,000 2,000 



Total cost of plant, Fl. 107,400 $53,700 

* Oil-cake, which is not believed to contain one half the nourish- 
ment, is sold in large quantities at 2|- cents currency per pound. 

\ $4.75 gold per centner is less than 4 cents gold per American 
pound, or, with gold at 130, 5J cents currency. Good white rags are 
now selling at 12 cents currency, and have not for many years been 
below 6 cents. It does not seem likely that they will ever permanently 
return to that price. 



29 



ANNUAL EXPENSES. 

Austrian Currency. American Gold. 

100,000 centner corn-husks, a Fl. 2, Fl. 200,000 §100,000 

Fuel, chemicals, etc., . . . 39,000 19,500 

Labor, 16,000 8,000 

Interest and wear and tear, . . 10,740 5,370 

Salaries,* 5,000 2,500 

Light, repairs to building, and sun- 
dries, .... 3,000 1,500 

Total annual expenses, Fl. 273,740 $136,870 

PRODUCTION. 

Austrian Currency. American Gold. 

Fibre, 10,000 centner a Fl. 16, Fl. 160,000 |80,000 

Gluten, 11,000 centner a Fl. 3*, 38,500 19,250 

Paper pulp, 19,000 centner a Fl. 9^, 180,500 90,250 

Gross product, . . Fl. 379,000 $189,500 

Deduct annual expenses, 273,740 136,870 

Net profits, . . Fl. 105,260 $52,630 



I. R. AusTEiAisr CoifsuLATE Gexeeax, 
New-Yoek, 26 May, 1865. 
Wm. Aufeemank, Esq. : 

Deae Sie : In answer to your note of this morning, I 
would say, that the high position and great reputation 
of Chevalier Auer von Welsbach would, as you are well 
aware, render my endorsement of his statements in his 
own country entirely superfluous and wholly out of place. 

At your request, however, I take pleasure in stating 
that I am cognizant of the correctness of most of the 
statements contained in the pamphlet which you have 
kindly submitted to my inspection. 

* This item is, of course, much too lo-w. Treble the amount would 
probably be more nearly correct. 



30 



In case the American Patent slioulcl be disposed of, 
you may state, on my authority, that Chevalier Von 
Auer has informed me personally that he will furnish all 
necessary models, drawings, plans, and specifications to 
the satisfaction of the purchasers, and will afford to any 
agent sent over by them every facility for becoming ac- 
quainted with the practical working of the different in- 
ventions, and that he has made arrangements to send 
out, whenever required, competent men, well skilled in 
the business, now employed in the Imperial Mills, and 
that he probably might himself come out to the States 
to superintend the first operations. 

You are at liberty to publish this note. 
Yours, very sincerely, 

Chakles F. Loosey. 

Samples of the different products of the Cornfibre, re- 
ceived by Consul-General Loosey from the Imperial 
Mills, can be seen at the Office of the Undersigned. 
Wm. Aufermann, 

90 Broadway, New-York. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

iHii 

018 375 213 3 4 



o'' r'.-<-r ■' — 



